Well, there was extra information page you may open when Checking country status. Concerning great production points, they are increased by Economic idea organized construction, random events and, most importantly, invest in great production decision. These points are then spent on developing provinces. To do that, click on a state and select an edict. The 'Begin Great Production' edict will trigger an event which will present you with multiple options to boost these provinces. Of course, more great production points open more options for development. To be able to change trade goods, you need more than 90 points and provinces must be 20 development with specific trade good. For example, Livestock province with 20 development can be turned into Gourmet Meat producing province. Or, naval supplies/fish province can be turned into Vessels producing province. If a province has 30 development, you can change trade good to paper or glass, if they don't have better trade good already.

Lawgiver points are the ones that increase/decrease in the game the most. Mostly due to random events. Having them at a good level will help you counter rising crime penalties. Beware that parliament bribes also cost Lawgiver points.

Crime is a nasty thing that must be contained with care. Early on, main factors for crime growth will be cultural intolerance and religious unity. However, other factors such as low legitimacy/republican tradition, instability, loans, overextension and so on will impact it as well. Early on it is advised to employ Sheriff or High Judge as advisors as they will provide -1% yearly crime rate (sadly, it is not possible to show this modifier when employing advisor). Best course of action, of course, would be investing into Lawgiver ideas, as they both boost Lawgiver points and reduce Crime points.

When it comes to Culture and Literacy, these grow slowly and decay pretty quickly. Random events will increase them by small amount, and ideas (Innovativeness and Glory) will reduce the decay. High literacy provides useful modifiers and may even decrease crime rate. Culture, perhaps hardest to achieve, gives bonuses to prestige and, if high enough, Morale as well.

Thanks for the reply, I had read through the descriptions in game but needed some more info. The production one, for instance, does not mention that Economic ideas affect great production points. Though now that I look I see it in the second idea of the group. What are the requirements for the "invest in great production" decision to be visible? I think I say it in my Iceland game, but dont have access to it now in my Outremer game.

Also, the description for Learning mentions "learning ideas", is that supposed to be "Ingenuity Ideas"? Or is that another group I haven't had access to yet?

About Crime: This mechanic seems a bit opaque, but very impactful. I have my country at 100% unity and 3 stab with almost no over extension for several decades now, and still my crime hovers around 30ish. Perhaps some of the modifiers need to be adjusted? Also, the events that are crime associated might need a bit of diversity. All of them I can spend 25/50 ADM to get rid of 10 crime at a time (assuming my Lawspeaker points are high enough), but inevitably 2-3 pop at a time and that is up to 150 ADM I just have to dump all at once. It would be a bit nice if the cost was spread across all 3 monarch point types.

I think if you added to that description event in game with a detailed bit on each of the mechanics it would be very helpful. For example, knowing I can change trade goods will definitely impact my decision to take economic ideas. Finally a place to show the rate of change of these modifiers would be helpful (even adding it tot the current description would be great).